Philly Salon: Community Discussion - Multi-generational dialogue. Real talk without the fluff. The kind of room where people talk to understand, not to win.

Rediscovering Yourself After Survival Mode - With Adrienne Charleston, M.A., LPA — therapist, Army veteran, founder of Butterfly Flow Counseling.

Pull up. 8 PM ET.

Join Tonight — 8 PM ET →

See you tonight,
Host, Soul Thursdays

Get Connected:
Get Zoom Reminder: Register here
SMS Reminders: soulthursday.live

Two conversations.
One night.
And both centered around the same deeper question:

How do we reconnect — with ourselves and with each other?

🕗 Thursday • 8 PM Eastern
🔗 Register at SoulThursdays.com

Connection to community and identity.
Connection to ourselves after life has changed us.

First, Michelle & Steve and members of the Philly Salon community join us for a real conversation about changing neighborhoods, displacement, emotional disconnect, and the importance of creating spaces where different generations can still come together and talk honestly.

What started as a simple pop-in conversation with them turned into something much deeper. Michelle described the Philly Salon as a multi-generational space rooted in intentional dialogue and real talk without the fluff — the kind of room where people don’t just debate to win, they talk to understand.

And somewhere during that conversation, somebody said:

“We didn’t leave notes.”

That line stuck with me.

Because a lot of people are navigating adulthood, relationships, grief, burnout, identity, and community shifts without guidance. We learned how to survive… but not always how to process, connect, or rest.

And in many ways, that same idea carries into the second half of our evening.

Later that night, we’ll sit down with Adrienne Charleston, M.A., LPA — therapist, retired Army veteran, and founder of Butterfly Flow Counseling — for a conversation about burnout, emotional exhaustion, healing, and what it means to rediscover yourself after years of survival mode.

One thing I’ve realized lately is that a lot of people aren’t falling apart…

They’re just carrying too much quietly.

Adrienne’s butterfly metaphor really resonates with me because transformation sounds beautiful… but anybody who’s ever changed deeply knows it can also feel uncomfortable, lonely, and disorienting.

Sometimes healing isn’t becoming someone new.

Sometimes it’s reconnecting with who you were before survival mode took over.

Two conversations.
One night.
And both centered around the same deeper question:

How do we reconnect — with ourselves and with each other?

🕗 Thursday • 8 PM Eastern
🔗 Register at SoulThursdays.com

We’re bringing in you.

👉 A Community Discussion: What’s Happening to Our Neighborhoods?

This isn’t about stats or studies.
This is about stories.

📖 The Story We’re Living

Across the country, people are noticing the same thing:

• Families being priced out

• Communities shifting faster than we can process

• Spaces that once felt like home… feeling unfamiliar

For some, it’s subtle.
For others, it’s sudden.

But for many of us, it raises real questions:

• Where did everybody go?

• Why does it feel different now?

• And what does “community” even mean today?

🌟 This Week, You’re the Speaker

There’s no panel this week.

No script.

Just a room full of people from different cities, different experiences, and different perspectives — coming together to talk it out.

Maybe you’ve seen your neighborhood change over 30 years.
Maybe you just moved somewhere new and you’re trying to find your place.
Maybe you’re watching it happen in real time and don’t know what to make of it yet.

👉 Your story matters.

Whether you speak up… or just listen and reflect.

❤️ Featured Opportunity: Marriage Rewired Retreat

For those who are thinking deeper about relationships, clarity, and intentional partnership…

There’s an upcoming experience aligned with that same spirit of growth:

Marriage Is Sacred & Sexy — The Covenant Connection Journey

📍 Embassy Suites Riverfront | Wilmington, NC
📅 June 4–5, 2026

This is a singles experience focused on:

• Clarity in today’s dating landscape

• Healing and self-awareness

• Preparing for marriage with intention and confidence

Led by couples who’ve built lasting marriages, this isn’t about rushing into something…

👉 It’s about choosing well

If that resonates, you can explore more here:
🔗 https://marriagerewiredretreat.com/

This Thursday Community Discussion & Networking

🎙️ Join Us Live

🎙️ Soul Thursdays Live Community Discussion
👉 Topic: What’s Happening in Your Community?
📅 This Thursday
🕒 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT
🔗 Join at: SoulThursdays.com

📅 Thursday, April 16 - JOIN NOW

Antwone Fisher’s story reminds us that even in the hardest circumstances, transformation is possible.

This will be a deeply personal conversation about resilience, storytelling, identity, and what it means to reclaim your life narrative.

📍 Join us live:
SoulThursdays.com

📅 Thursday, April 16 🕖 7:45 PM ET - REGISTER HERE

Raised in foster care and overcoming homelessness as a teenager, Fisher transformed his life experiences into the bestselling memoir Finding Fish, a powerful story of survival, healing, and the search for belonging.

His newest book, Reflections Beneath the Buckeye Trees: Notes from a Life, offers thoughtful reflections on forgiveness, memory, and the lessons learned across a lifetime.

Antwone Fisher’s story reminds us that even in the hardest circumstances, transformation is possible.

This will be a deeply personal conversation about resilience, storytelling, identity, and what it means to reclaim your life narrative.

📅 Thursday, April 16 🕖 7:45 PM ET - REGISTER HERE

Antwone Fisher is a New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter whose life story inspired the acclaimed film Antwone Fisher. Raised in foster care and overcoming homelessness as a teenager, Fisher transformed his life experiences into the bestselling memoir Finding Fish. His newest book, Reflections Beneath the Buckeye Trees: Notes from a Life, reflects on forgiveness, memory, and the lessons learned across a lifetime.

Join the Conversation

Soul Thursdays has always been about more than listening — it’s about learning together, sharing experiences, and building community through honest conversation.

Whether you’re caring for family, reflecting on your own life journey, or simply seeking deeper understanding, these conversations are for you.

📍 Join us live:
SoulThursdays.com

This Week: Dementia Care — Caring for the Ones Who Raised Us

During the discussion we will explore:

• Early warning signs of dementia families often miss
• The emotional weight of caring for aging parents
• Why dementia can be difficult for families to recognize or discuss
• How caregiving responsibilities reshape family relationships
• Practical ways to support a loved one while protecting your own wellbeing
• How Black families can advocate for better healthcare support

If you have aging parents, grandparents, or elders in your life, this conversation may help you prepare for a journey many families eventually face.

Next Week: A Conversation with Antwone Q. Fisher

📅 Thursday, April 16
🕖 7:45 PM ET

The following week we welcome Antwone Q. Fisher, New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter whose life story inspired the acclaimed film Antwone Fisher.

Raised in foster care and overcoming homelessness as a teenager, Fisher transformed his life experiences into the bestselling memoir Finding Fish, a powerful story of survival, healing, and the search for belonging.

His newest book, Reflections Beneath the Buckeye Trees: Notes from a Life, offers thoughtful reflections on forgiveness, memory, and the lessons learned across a lifetime.

Join the Conversation

Both sessions will be filmed LIVE with video, speaker discussion, and open community Q&A.

📍 Join us live:
SoulThursdays.com

The past couple of weeks have reminded me why we started Soul Thursdays in the first place — to create space where real stories, lived experiences, and community wisdom can meet.

And over the next two weeks, we’re honored to host two extraordinary guests whose journeys speak to the heart of what Soul Thursdays is all about: resilience, reflection, healing, and the courage to face difficult truths.

Both sessions will be LIVE conversations with video, speaker dialogue, and community Q&A, because the most meaningful conversations are the ones we share together.

This Week: Dementia Care — Caring for the Ones Who Raised Us

📅 Thursday, April 9
🕖 7:45 PM ET

At some point in life, many of us face a quiet but powerful transition.

The people who once cared for us… may eventually need our care.

This week on Soul Thursdays we sit down with Dr. Kalisha Bonds Johnson, a nurse scientist and board-certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at Emory University’s Integrated Memory Care Clinic.

Dr. Johnson works directly with families navigating dementia, behavioral changes, medication decisions, and the difficult healthcare transitions that often come with aging.

But what makes her voice especially powerful is that she doesn’t just speak from research — she speaks from lived experience, cultural understanding, and deep compassion for families walking this journey.

She is also the founder of KBJ Collective, where she translates research into practical tools and coaching for caregivers. Through her work with the D.E.C.I.D.E. Research Lab, she focuses on improving dementia care experiences for African American families.

This conversation will explore the emotional, practical, and cultural realities of dementia and caregiving in our communities.

During the discussion we will explore:

• Early warning signs of dementia families often miss
• The emotional weight of caring for aging parents
• Why dementia can be difficult for families to recognize or discuss
• How caregiving responsibilities reshape family relationships
• Practical ways to support a loved one while protecting your own wellbeing
• How Black families can advocate for better healthcare support

If you have aging parents, grandparents, or elders in your life, this conversation may help you prepare for a journey many families eventually face.

Next Week: A Conversation with Antwone Q. Fisher

📅 Thursday, April 16
🕖 7:45 PM ET

The following week we welcome Antwone Q. Fisher, New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter whose life story inspired the acclaimed film Antwone Fisher.

Raised in foster care and overcoming homelessness as a teenager, Fisher transformed his life experiences into the bestselling memoir Finding Fish, a powerful story of survival, healing, and the search for belonging.

His newest book, Reflections Beneath the Buckeye Trees: Notes from a Life, offers thoughtful reflections on forgiveness, memory, and the lessons learned across a lifetime.

Antwone Fisher’s story reminds us that even in the hardest circumstances, transformation is possible.

This will be a deeply personal conversation about resilience, storytelling, identity, and what it means to reclaim your life narrative.

Antwone Q. Fisher is a New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter whose life story inspired the acclaimed film Antwone Fisher. Raised in foster care and overcoming homelessness as a teenager, Fisher transformed his life experiences into the bestselling memoir Finding Fish. His newest book, Reflections Beneath the Buckeye Trees: Notes from a Life, reflects on forgiveness, memory, and the lessons learned across a lifetime.

Join the Conversation

Both sessions will be filmed LIVE with video, speaker discussion, and open community Q&A.

Soul Thursdays has always been about more than listening — it’s about learning together, sharing experiences, and building community through honest conversation.

Whether you’re caring for family, reflecting on your own life journey, or simply seeking deeper understanding, these conversations are for you.

📍 Join us live:
SoulThursdays.com

JOIN NOW: BUILD — Brotherhood, Unity, Integrity, Leadership & Duty

Our guest, Curtis Pitts, brings a perspective grounded in community leadership and real-world responsibility. His message is simple, but powerful: strong communities don’t happen by accident — they are built by men who understand their role in them.

📅 Thursday | 8 PM ET
🎤 Guest: Curtis Pitts
📍 Live Session

You can reserve your spot here:
1828academy.com

If someone came to mind while reading this — a son, nephew, or young man in your life — invite him to join you.

Because at some point, every man has to answer the question:

What am I building?

It’s no longer just, “What can I achieve?”
It becomes, “What am I building?”

Share Soul Thursdays - LIVE Episode Community

Most young men are taught how to pursue success — how to get a job, make money, and compete. But very few are taught how to build something that lasts. A strong family. A trusted reputation. A community that’s better because they were part of it.

That shift — from achievement to responsibility — is where manhood really begins.

This week during 1828 Manhood Academy kickoff, we’re continuing our kickoff series with a conversation centered on that idea:

BUILD — Brotherhood, Unity, Integrity, Leadership & Duty

Our guest, Curtis Pitts, brings a perspective grounded in community leadership and real-world responsibility. His message is simple, but powerful: strong communities don’t happen by accident — they are built by men who understand their role in them.

We’ll talk about what it means to surround yourself with the right men, how to lead without a title, and why integrity matters more than image. We’ll also explore the idea that manhood isn’t just about personal success — it’s about what exists because you showed up and took responsibility.

Share

If you’re a parent, mentor, or someone raising a young man, this is one of those conversations that can create a shift. And if you’re a young man between 18–28, this is an opportunity to hear what leadership and responsibility actually look like in practice.

📅 Thursday | 8 PM ET
🎤 Guest: Curtis Pitts
📍 Live Session

You can reserve your spot here:
1828academy.com

If someone came to mind while reading this — a son, nephew, or young man in your life — invite him to join you.

Because at some point, every man has to answer the question:

What am I building?

JOIN NOW

A Conversation with Dr. Berry Pierre

Our guest speaker is Dr. Berry Pierre, a board-certified physician, health educator, and advocate who has spent years helping people understand the real impact of everyday health decisions.

But this conversation is not just about medicine.

It’s about ownership.

Ownership of your body.
Ownership of your habits.
Ownership of the future you are building.

Because long-term leadership doesn’t begin in the boardroom.

It begins in daily discipline.

Join the Conversation

📍 Manhood Academy Session

Vitality & Longevity — Why Young Men Must Protect Their Future

🩺 Guest Speaker: Dr. Berry Pierre
Board-Certified Physician | Health Educator | Advocate

Young men ages 18–28 are encouraged to attend.

Parents and mentors are welcome as well.

Reserve your spot:
1828academy.com

How to make money.
How to compete.
How to climb.

But very few are taught how to protect the foundation that makes any of that possible — their health.

Energy. Focus. Longevity. Discipline.

These are not just medical issues. They are leadership issues.

And yet, for many young men, health becomes something they think about later — after success, after stress, after burnout, after problems appear.

The truth is much simpler and much harder at the same time:

The decisions a man makes about his health before age 30 often shape the rest of his life.

His energy.
His focus.
His discipline.
His ability to lead.

That’s why this week at Manhood Academy, we are focusing on a topic that quietly influences every other area of a man’s life:

Vitality and Longevity.

A Conversation with Dr. Berry Pierre

Our guest speaker is Dr. Berry Pierre, a board-certified physician, health educator, and advocate who has spent years helping people understand the real impact of everyday health decisions.

But this conversation is not just about medicine.

It’s about ownership.

Ownership of your body.
Ownership of your habits.
Ownership of the future you are building.

Because long-term leadership doesn’t begin in the boardroom.

It begins in daily discipline.

What We’ll Explore

During this session, we’ll explore several ideas that many young men rarely hear discussed in a direct way.

Health as Leadership

Discipline in health often reflects discipline in life.
The ability to manage sleep, stress, nutrition, and energy shapes how a man shows up everywhere else.

Manhood & Medicine

The decisions men make about their bodies — what they eat, how they manage stress, whether they seek care — have real consequences for their long-term success.

Ownership of Your Health

Too often young men believe health is something doctors fix later.

In reality, the most important health decisions are made long before a hospital visit.

Habits that Shape the Future

Sleep, exercise, nutrition, mental health, and stress management are not temporary fixes.

They are lifelong systems that determine vitality and longevity.

Manhood Starts Earlier Than Most People Think

When we talk about manhood, people often talk about career success, financial stability, or status.

But long before any of that comes the simplest truth:

Manhood begins with responsibility.

Responsibility for your actions.
Responsibility for your decisions.
Responsibility for your body and your mind.

Because the man who cannot protect his health eventually struggles to protect everything else.

His family.
His leadership.
His future.

The Conversation We Want Young Men to Have

Manhood Academy was created to open up conversations that many young men rarely get to hear in honest ways.

Not lectures.

Not slogans.

But real discussions about the choices that shape a man’s life.

This week’s conversation with Dr. Berry Pierre is one of those moments.

A chance to step back and ask a simple but powerful question:

What does it look like to build a future you are healthy enough to live in?

Join the Conversation

📍 Manhood Academy Session

Vitality & Longevity — Why Young Men Must Protect Their Future

🩺 Guest Speaker: Dr. Berry Pierre
Board-Certified Physician | Health Educator | Advocate

Young men ages 18–28 are encouraged to attend.

Parents and mentors are welcome as well.

Reserve your spot:
1828academy.com

JOIN NOW!

Join the Conversation

This week we continue the 18–28 Manhood Academy Kickoff Series with:

Measure of a Man

Featuring Maurice Spencer

A conversation about:

• Leadership beyond titles

• The influence of mentors and coaches

• Lessons from sports and fatherhood

• Character, responsibility, and accountability

• Preparing young men for leadership in life

Join here:
👉 1828Academy.com

This week, as part of the Manhood Academy 18–28 Kickoff Series, we continue the conversation with a session titled:

Measure of a Man

Our featured guest is Maurice Spencer, a technology leader, mentor, basketball coach, and proud girl dad whose life reflects many of the lessons young men need to hear today.

Maurice represents something that is often missing in conversations about masculinity — a balanced example.

A man who has spent more than two decades building teams and leading in the technology sector.
A man who understands the discipline and teamwork that sports can teach.
A father raising a daughter who cares deeply about the kind of men the next generation becomes.

And perhaps most importantly, a man who still values mentorship.

The Men Who Shaped Us

Many of us can remember someone who helped shape our understanding of manhood.

Sometimes it was a father.
Sometimes it was a coach.
Sometimes it was a teacher or mentor who saw something in us before we saw it in ourselves.

Maurice often talks about the impact of the coaches who guided him during his basketball journey growing up. These were men who taught more than just plays and drills. They taught discipline. Accountability. Respect.

The kind of lessons that stay with you long after the final buzzer sounds.

Today, Maurice continues that tradition by coaching youth basketball — including his daughter’s AAU team — passing those lessons forward to the next generation.

Because mentorship is one of the quiet forces that shape a life.

Join the Conversation

This week we continue the 18–28 Manhood Academy Kickoff Series with:

Measure of a Man

Featuring Maurice Spencer

A conversation about:

• Leadership beyond titles

• The influence of mentors and coaches

• Lessons from sports and fatherhood

• Character, responsibility, and accountability

• Preparing young men for leadership in life

📅 Thursday
🕗 8 PM Eastern

Register here:
👉 1828Academy.com

If you know a young man between 18 and 28, invite him to listen in.

Sometimes a single conversation can change the direction of a life.

And sometimes the most powerful lessons come from simply hearing how another man chose to live.

This event is an Open House + Community Conversation.

We’ll share:

• Why Manhood Academy was created

• What the survey data revealed

• The 4-week kickoff plan

• How parents and community members can stay involved

If you care about a son, nephew, grandson, or young man becoming grounded and prepared — this space is for you.

📍 Live Open House
🔗 Join LIVE here: Click Here

Let’s build this — together.

How Young Men Show Up in the Room.

Our first guest speaker, Terrence Waller, will lead a conversation on professionalism, presentation, and presence — covering:

• How attire communicates before you speak

• Preparing for interviews and leadership spaces

• Reading professional environments

• Carrying yourself with clarity and confidence

This is not about respectability politics.
It’s about giving boys the tools to navigate rooms with awareness and intention.

This event is an Open House + Community Conversation.

We’ll share:

• Why Manhood Academy was created

• What the survey data revealed

• The 4-week kickoff plan

• How parents and community members can stay involved

If you care about a son, nephew, grandson, or young man becoming grounded and prepared — this space is for you.

📍 Live Open House
🎙️ Speaker: Terrence Waller
🎓 Topic: Professionalism, Presentation & Presence
🔗 Register here: Click Here

Let’s build this — together.

—
Calvin Rich
Author | Founder, 1828 Manhood Academy
Creator of the 32 Flavors Identity Framework
AudacityBook.com - From survival to stewardship.

Click Now at 🔗SoulThursdays.com

Dr. Rosario’s academic work centers on health equity — examining the systems and structures that shape who thrives and who struggles. She studies how environments, policy, and structural targeting impact community health.

But caregiving isn’t just a research topic for her.

It is lived.

Her perspective reframes caregiving from an individual burden to a systemic issue.

When caregivers burn out, families destabilize.
When caregivers are unsupported, health outcomes decline.
When caregivers neglect their own well-being, the ripple effects extend across generations.

Caregiver health is public health.

And yet, we rarely build policy, workplace structures, or community systems that treat it that way.

Join the Live Conversation

📅 Thursday, February 26
🕗 8 PM ET
🔗 SoulThursdays.com

If you are caring for an aging parent…
If you are supporting a loved one through illness…
If you have quietly become “the strong one”…
If you recognize yourself in the slow disappearance of hobbies and rest…

There’s a particular tone caregivers develop.

It sounds steady. Efficient. Matter-of-fact.

“Yeah, I’ve got it.”
“It’s fine.”
“That’s just what you do.”

No drama. No spotlight. No request for help.

Just quiet endurance.

The Caregiver Generation

We are living through a demographic shift.

Healthcare systems are stretched. Families are smaller. Geographic mobility has scattered siblings across states. And many adults in their 40s, 50s, and even 30s now find themselves in a dual role:

Full-time employee.
Full-time caregiver.

The data confirms what many quietly feel:

• Family caregivers provide the majority of long-term care in the United States.

• Many experience chronic stress, sleep disruption, and elevated risk for anxiety and depression.

• Caregivers often delay their own medical care.

• Financial strain is common — even among middle-class households.

And yet, culturally, caregiving is framed as duty. As love. As expectation.

Why This Conversation Matters

This isn’t about guilt.

It’s about awareness.

It’s about naming what many feel but rarely articulate.

It’s about shifting from heroic endurance to sustainable care.

Dr. Rosario created The Loving Well Podcast as a space for caregivers to reflect, reconnect, and refill — not because they are failing, but because they are carrying.

And carrying alone was never meant to be permanent.

Join the Live Conversation

📅 Thursday, February 26
🕗 8 PM ET
🔗 SoulThursdays.com

If you are caring for an aging parent…
If you are supporting a loved one through illness…
If you have quietly become “the strong one”…
If you recognize yourself in the slow disappearance of hobbies and rest…

This conversation is for you.

You can be responsible
and supported.

You can be strong
and sustained.

You can care for others
without burning yourself out.

Sometimes the first step is simply admitting:

I’m carrying more than I realized.

We’ll see you Thursday.

👉 Join Now at SoulThursdays.com

Open Discussion: We’ll also explore how trust is built day by day through ordinary choices—not grand gestures—and what it means to nourish and cherish a relationship the way you would a maintenance contract. Not waiting until everything breaks, but tending to it consistently so it can actually last. Singles will hear how leadership is something you practice before marriage, not something you magically acquire later. Couples will hear how restarting doesn’t require shame or scorekeeping—just honesty and intention.

Join us live on Thursday, February 12 at 8:00 PM ET, streaming via Zoom as part of Soul Thursdays. Registration is open at SoulThursdays.com.

This week on Soul Thursdays, we’re choosing a different lane. We’re going beyond the gender wars and slowing the conversation down long enough to ask a better question: what does leadership actually look like in a relationship when it’s healthy, grounded, and real?

Episode: Beyond Gender Wars — Let’s Talk About What Leadership Really Looks Like with Kwame & Nakia Stringfield, Co-Founders of Marriage Rewired
When: Thursday, February 12 | 8:00 PM ET | Live via Zoom

This Soul Thursdays episode moves past gender-war rhetoric to explore what leadership actually looks like in healthy relationships. Kwame and Nakia Stringfield share lived insight on servant leadership, emotional safety, trust-building, and why leadership is proven through consistency, understanding, and sacrifice—not control.

Topics include:

• Leadership vs dominance & Submission vs Safety

• Leadership as Service & Submission as Trust

• Understanding vs fixing & Listening vs Solving

👉 Register at SoulThursdays.com

Open Discussion: We’ll also explore how trust is built day by day through ordinary choices—not grand gestures—and what it means to nourish and cherish a relationship the way you would a maintenance contract. Not waiting until everything breaks, but tending to it consistently so it can actually last. Singles will hear how leadership is something you practice before marriage, not something you magically acquire later. Couples will hear how restarting doesn’t require shame or scorekeeping—just honesty and intention.

If you’re tired of the noise and looking for language that actually fits what you’re feeling, this is a good place to sit.

Join us live on Thursday, February 12 at 8:00 PM ET, streaming via Zoom as part of Soul Thursdays. Registration is open at SoulThursdays.com.

🔗 JOIN NOW: SoulThursdays.com for Guest: Montina Myers-Galloway, LCMHC

🎙️ SOUL THURSDAYS LIVE — PODCAST LAUNCH EXPERIENCE

JOIN NOW for Natalie Beard

📲 JOIN NOW at SoulThursdays.com
Let’s heal the strong one — and honor the becoming — together.